Catching at any cost

[Ray Heath]

I believe your talking about marford farm i have fished it and got bored very quickly there as you catch the same fish over and over and I doubt there were 60+ fish in his swim any way

 

[Neil Smart]

Its horses for courses really, the Wye in its pomp was similar, even I with then very basic gear managed to luck out multiple bags of barbel, these fish would hook themselves before the feeder settled.
For me and I suspect all others on here is that odd big fish that rewards you when you least expect it, and although you have done everything to set the trap when occasionally it is sprung...it is a memory for life.
Barbel are greedy bold feeders, if this sort of catches were replicated in all rivers I doubt we would do it.

 

[Neil Blood]

I once caught 44 Barbel, 6 Chub and a Perch from the River Teme, during a single session. I had to empty the keepnet half way through the session. All caught on the pole using hemp and caster.

A one off never to be repeated session, with subsequent sessions only producing 20+ fish Around the same time, I used to absolutely batter the Chub on my local River Dane!

Great memories from approximately 30 years ago!

If the smaller rivers like the Teme and Dane were still producing fish numbers like this, it would be something to celebrate Unfortunately it wont happen again during my lifetime

 

[Neil Maidment]

For the first 25+ years of my fishing life it was all about matches - from hastily arranged sweepstakes, club, winter league and opens through to NFA Nationals. 30+ years further on, I still find myself often counting and guessing total weights, it's a habit.

Just this last week, I was on my way home from an early morning session but decided to stop off at a venue to get rid of my remaining maggots. I found myself on a "shed full" of ravenous chub. I don't possess a "clicker" but I ended up (ran out of bait) with 21 (or 22) chub, none weighed but all were 4s & 5s including several big 5s. I only lost 3 but one of those was a heavier example. That was my fault as by then I was bullying the chub quite hard! All on the float up in the water in almost 4 hours of fishing and all returned at my feet.

That sort of works out at around 5 or more chub an hour which includes all the usual tangles, hook changes etc and "resting" whilst still feeding them (and me).

A week or so before, on the same river but a different area, I had a few chub responding well. I set up a camera to try and video some of the action. That 20 min video turned out to be rubbish but in that period I landed 4 chub. The one piece of video I did rescue shows one trot, one chub landed and returned - the clip lasts 3min 30secs.

Happily, I can only recall a few such sessions with chub, roach, dace or barbel in the past many years. I wouldn't still be fishing if that happened on a frequent basis.

 

[Paul Richardson]

Its horses for courses really, the Wye in its pomp was similar, even I with then very basic gear managed to luck out multiple bags of barbel, these fish would hook themselves before the feeder settled.
For me and I suspect all others on here is that odd big fish that rewards you when you least expect it, and although you have done everything to set the trap when occasionally it is sprung...it is a memory for life.
Barbel are greedy bold feeders, if this sort of catches were replicated in all rivers I doubt we would do i

I’ve had some decent sessions this season, as have quite a number of friends
10-20 barbel and similar chub in a typical session
This season a lot of 1-3 lb fish, me personally best would be 7ish but I haven’t weighed any.
I blanked on my last session , but the one before that I stopped fishing at 15 barbel as I couldn’t get through smaller fish.
Dare I even suggest I was getting bored Catching barbel????

I wasn’t , as I had balanced tackle and had some clonking chub but if I’d have sat it out to catch , say 20 barbel - just for the numbers
What am I proving ??
But I can see how someone fishing the float , got the feeding right, in a rhythm, catching small barbel could be pretty addictive

It’s not lost on me how tough barbel fishing is on a lot of rivers and nothing stays the same.
It’s great to be able to get your string pulled once in a while,and I’ll never take it for granted but equally we fish rivers for a challenge so it’s getting the balance right.

Fishing new rivers, new club stretches, new methods, new species or targeting specimens brings a balance for me
But it’s hard to walk away from a honey hole , I won’t lie.

Me and a mate walked a new stretch last weekend and we were like giddy youths, fish spotting , feature finding, just working stuff out - we never cast a line but can’t remember us being that enthused for quite some time despite “ blanks ahoy!”

 

[Alan Palmer]

That type of fishing certainly isn’t for me, I would lose all sense of achievement. However, he would take a look at what I’m doing and probably say no way should I waste time fishing the Ouse life’s too short etc etc. I sometimes think that myself when on a long run of blanks, but when it all comes together there’s no better feeling IMO. And in between times when needing a fix I head up to the Severn! (Although TBF I sometimes struggle on there too)
I don’t see his scenario as ‘at any cost’ fishing and good luck to him if he enjoyed it and no fish were harmed. This is why fishing is so great being many different things to many different people….just do your own thing and be happy with it.

 

[Neil Kirk]

The top end (known as the Short Walk) of the Verulam stretch of the Upper Lea is a fantastically managed stretch of river which is very prolific for barbel and ideal for anyone who wants to catch fish trotting.

On the down side it has wooden fishing platforms reminiscent of a carp puddle so not to everyone's taste. It is incredibly popular with about 5 swims that are highly favoured to the extent that when the fishery opens in a morning the first 5 anglers (there is usually a queue) have to draw tickets for those swims because in the past there have been heated arguments/fisticuffs - again not everyones taste. Match clickers? - not for me.

I used to like an afternoon/evening (no queuing up in the morning for me) session now and again because it was a great place to get over a string of blanks at Fishers Green or similar or to try out new methods with a good chance of getting a fish. It also has some huge roach, dace up to 1lb and I caught the most beautiful fish I have ever seen - a grey and white intricately patterned koi carp of about 8lb (apparently an escapee from the local manor lakes following a major flood).

It is definitely a marmite venue but just as well considering how many anglers love it.

There is also the bottom end (long walk) which is quite a walk and consequently much quieter with no platforms and a lower stock of fish.

Each to their own - I don't judge!

 

[Neil Kirk]

Hang on…

Sixty-two barbel. How long did he fish for? Six hours? That’s ten barbel an hour or a fish every six minutes or so. Even if he fished ten hours that’s a fish every ten minutes.

Surely that’s been exaggerated.

Unless they were all 1-2lb

I've never heard of 60+ from that venue but there are a couple of swims that regularly produce 30+ in a day so certainly not impossible.

 

[Alec Hague]

Not blessed with many barbel here but along the lines of the discussion and quantitities, I once went to a Billericay club water and had nearly 40 carp at around 3 -6lb and I was not just towing them in. Then I read of my nearest large match venue commercial where over a similar 5 hours, and with similar size carp, the record stands at over 1000lb. I was catching at about 40lb per hour but the record suggests 200lb+ per hour!.

 

[Mark Swaby]

Sixty two sounds mad but I was told by a Bailiff about 5 years ago 92 came out of one of the swims in a full day (17 hours) between 2 anglers. One caught 78 and went home, another angler moved in and had 14. I was also told by a very efficient angler they had caught more than 92 in a day. Its a crazy small section of river with a draw for swims at 0450 and most anglers trying to get one of two swims. I have even seen people go home after not drawing the better swims. It bucks all trends in the South of England by still being very prolific with a fantastic recruitment of Barbel, chub and Roach. The river is tiny, 25ft wide at its widest, 3ft deep, you can see the bottom in every swim These two swims are stacked from the riverbed to the surface with hungry Barbel which often take on the drop. Most get caught more than once a day in the prolific swims and the club sometimes closes off the swims to give them a break. To me targeting and catching that amount of stupid Barbel does not appeal. Its almost like fishing a carp puddle where the fish are always hungry. I only fish the section in Winter trying to target the few big Roach left but its still busy. Trying to avoid Barbel to target Roach even in minus temps can be very difficult. To be honest catching Barbel in the Winter on my light Roach gear is a pain in the backside but often the bigger Roach are in the same swims as the Barbel.

 

[Daniel Jeffery]

The top end (known as the Short Walk) of the Verulam stretch of the Upper Lea is a fantastically managed stretch of river which is very prolific for barbel and ideal for anyone who wants to catch fish trotting.

On the down side it has wooden fishing platforms reminiscent of a carp puddle so not to everyone's taste. It is incredibly popular with about 5 swims that are highly favoured to the extent that when the fishery opens in a morning the first 5 anglers (there is usually a queue) have to draw tickets for those swims because in the past there have been heated arguments/fisticuffs - again not everyones taste. Match clickers? - not for me.

I used to like an afternoon/evening (no queuing up in the morning for me) session now and again because it was a great place to get over a string of blanks at Fishers Green or similar or to try out new methods with a good chance of getting a fish. It also has some huge roach, dace up to 1lb and I caught the most beautiful fish I have ever seen - a grey and white intricately patterned koi carp of about 8lb (apparently an escapee from the local manor lakes following a major flood).

It is definitely a marmite venue but just as well considering how many anglers love it.

There is also the bottom end (long walk) which is quite a walk and consequently much quieter with no platforms and a lower stock of fish.

Each to their own - I don't judge!

I agree with you, very marmite and honestly not a fan of the platforms but I get why they did it in terms of accessibility.

It can be like shooting fish in a barrel but I find it useful if I’m testing out a new float, bait, rig as it takes the “are there fish in my swim” variable out of the equation. If you’re not catching, there’s probably something wrong in terms of presentation etc.

Also useful as a confidence booster if you’ve been serial blanking at Fishers Green.

 

[Terry Harman]

Sixty two sounds mad but I was told by a Bailiff about 5 years ago 92 came out of one of the swims in a full day (17 hours) between 2 anglers. One caught 78 and went home, another angler moved in and had 14. I was also told by a very efficient angler they had caught more than 92 in a day. Its a crazy small section of river with a draw for swims at 0450 and most anglers trying to get one of two swims. I have even seen people go home after not drawing the better swims. It bucks all trends in the South of England by still being very prolific with a fantastic recruitment of Barbel, chub and Roach. The river is tiny, 25ft wide at its widest, 3ft deep, you can see the bottom in every swim These two swims are stacked from the riverbed to the surface with hungry Barbel which often take on the drop. Most get caught more than once a day in the prolific swims and the club sometimes closes off the swims to give them a break. To me targeting and catching that amount of stupid Barbel does not appeal. Its almost like fishing a carp puddle where the fish are always hungry. I only fish the section in Winter trying to target the few big Roach left but its still busy. Trying to avoid Barbel to target Roach even in minus temps can be very difficult. To be honest catching Barbel in the Winter on my light Roach gear is a pain in the backside but often the bigger Roach are in the same swims as the Barbel.

Those two swims are very prolific I know they shut them down for a week or two but they should shut them for a season the fish would then have to move from that area

 

[Phil Nixon]

Believe me this is a particular stretch of the lea where anglers arrive early and wait for the opening time to fish, having lived on the side of the lea I know it is a one off area. I had a couple of friends join but left after a year as shall we say it was chaotic. The fish have been there for many years and I don't see it changing.

 

[Dave Quinn]

In my experience it’s become more prolific. I normally fish the other VAC stretches but last winter I was struggling after a back op and when I noticed the car park was empty I liked the idea of a short walk and a couple of hours of catching. It was a bit silly, I don’t think the bait was in the water for longer than a minute the whole time, it was cast catch rest. I was feeding a shoal of fish at my feet at the end. So I can quite imagine 60+ barbel in a day.

I won’t be back on that stretch, I didn’t find it particularly enjoyable, but I won’t judge anyone who does. And it is a really well maintained fishery with lots of other species and great access for less mobile anglers.

It was more memorable for the horrific stomach bug that I think I picked up, the river was very high for there and I have a feeling the sewerage works not far upstream had been doing it’s worst for a couple of days

 

[Andrew Jackson]

a friend of mine just joined verulum angling for the river lea,he had 8 barbel in 4 hour's, nice,but he spoke to an angler who was float fishing that was actually using a match clicker,apparently he had 62 barbel whilst he was there, does that appeal to anyone on here, certainly not me

I assume they were small ones? Nothing wrong with that. I wouldn't want to do it but it should maybe be celebrated that there is still a southern river where that is even possible! I doubt there are even 62 Barbel in the stretches of river I fish! Going off on a tangent here, why exactly the upper Lea is so prolific could be studied to try and get to the bottom of why Barbel are faring so poorly in the majority of southern rivers.